Entertaining the idea of van living, or at least minimizing the size of my lifestyle further from a retrofitted dorm room / small apartment--there's likely a lot to learn by cautiously following more and more unconventional and "extreme" ways of living. Any resources or comments you all would like to share would be appreciated.

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One seemingly debatable question is whether van living is actually cheaper than small apartment living.

In a van, you must buy the van, pay for its insurance, outfit it as a living space, repair and maintain it, earn/purchase a driver's license from the government, potentially pay parking fees, buy gasoline for a relatively low mpg vehicle, and it's more difficult to harbor inexpensive traveling mediums--namely bicycles--and the equipment required to repair them. Total annual price: unknown at the moment.

In a small apartment, one pays rent, utilities, and can usually house bicycles no problem. Total annual price: ERE 21 day makeover apartment living would come out to $300-400 a month for rent, or $3,600 to $4800 a year.

For me this conversation is one of the few that is NOT all about the money.

If I personally cared little for the mobile life and the benefits it offers (ie travel, freedom, access to remote scenic places as part of life) I might agree that it may not worth the trade off financially.

The only way you could could come close to beating a equally frugal van dweller, is by not owning a vehicle or the associated costs in an affordable housing arrangement with virtually no transportation costs. Van dwellers can get costs to near zero in places with ample BLM, public lands and friends or relative options. Some of them move more frequently and at different speeds and lifestyles choices are highly variable depending on their personal resource availability at a particular time.

If you do not hear the beating drum of freedom played by the open road, I would consider this as a full time lifestyle very carefully.

Expeditionportal.com has many great ideas for mobile vehicles adapted to handle the challenge and adventure of life on the move.

Some more pros for a van:
- forced minimalism
- forced energy and water conservation
- one thing provides shelter AND transportation
- flexibility (e.g. you can move for a job or other opportunity almost for free)
- already off the grid so halfway emergency-prepared

One of the dilemmas when designing a camper is balancing the amount of light with safety. A windowless van can feel like a coffin but a glass house can invite smash and grab theft. He created an interesting solution with those flip-up steel window inserts.

Yeah, I agree: that article did more to depress me than anything else...

This is why I hate Pinterest and Instagram. They tend to idealize everything to the point where reality is never good enough, van life included. (For the love of all that is good, avoid the fitness or beauty sections in particular)